The Lonzo Ball “injury” ?

Lonzo Ball hasn’t played with the rest of his team since early January. It was around the time Lonzo went down due to a “sprained MCL” that his outspoken father LaVar Ball publicly made disparaging comments about the Lakers coach Luke Walton. He said in so many words that coach Walton is “losing the locker room” and the team essentially doesn’t want to play for him. From the outside looking in, it seems as though this is the straw that broke the President of Basketball Operations back.

Since then, Lonzo has been riding the pine and the rest of his team has been riding on to glory winning games without him. LaVar even went on to take credit for the team’s newfound success saying in so many words that his comments would either hold true or they would band together as a result. I can’t imagine a storied franchise being run by a brand new GM Rob Polinka, former manager to Laker Legend Kobe Bryant and brand new President of Basketball Operations, Laker Legend Magic Johnson would put up with this even if it brings the organization attention. However, I don’t think they want to give the impression that they’re “punishing the son for the sins of his father”. Especially since the fans do love Lonzo.

I’m not exactly saying the injury is “faked” because there are MRI’s that supposedly show the sprained MCL is real, I just think its overblown. Under normal circumstances, it seems like it would be in the best interest of the organization to give the fans what they want which is to play the new face of the franchise. It seems to me like an opportunity for the organization to say hey, you do you LaVar and control what you can, and we’ll do us and control what we can control, being your son’s playing time in response to your mouth.

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Hi, my name is Nehemiah. You can call me Marcus. I say "Last name Marcus" all the time because it's how most professional athletes, specifically basketball players, are addressed in the game. For instance "James, Read More...